Life-saving pillow.



A. BINNIE.

LIFE SAVING PILLOW. APPLICATION FILED JULYZI. 191s.

Patented June '25, 1918.

mmsm,

A Emma ALEXANDER BINNIE, OF NEW PLYMOUTH, NEW ZEAIJAND.

LIFE-SAVING PILLOW.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 25, 1318.

Application filed July 21, 1916. Serial No. 110,553.

To all whom it may concern:

. Be it known that I, ALEXANDER BINNIE, a citizen of the Dominion of New Zealand, and residing at New Plymouth, in the Provincial District of Taranaki, in the Dominion of New Zealand, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Life-Saving Pillows, of whichthe following is a specification.

This invention relates to pillows which are so constructed that they can be employed for saving life at sea, and provides a pillow which is more accessible and more easily handled than the usual cork life belts, has greater buoyancy and would render unnecessary the carrying of cork life belts by ves sels.

The invention consists in making a pillow having a length equal to the length of two ordinary pillows placed end to end, the thickness of the pillow is half the thickness of an ordinary pillow.

The casing of the pillow is sewed transversely across the middle and is then filled with kapok from either end and 010 by sewing.

Strong loops of tape or webbing are attached to one edge of the casing and tapes are attached at a short distance from the ends of the pillow.

In ordinary use the pillow is doubled at its center part and while so doubled is placed in a pillow slip in the ordinary way.

When required for saving life the pillow slip is removed, a persons arms placed through the loops, and the pillow passed around the body, and secured by tying the tapes of one end to the tapes of the other end of the pillow.

By attaching the tapes as described at a short distance from the ends of the pillow, the said ends overlap in a case where the wearer has a girth less than the length of the pillow.

The pillow is thus serviceable either upon a stout or thin person.

The drawings herewith illustrate the invention and will now be referred to for the purposes of a detailed description.

Figures 1 and 2 are front elevations of the pillow.

Fig. 3, is a perspective view of the pillow folded up, and

Fig. 4:. is a perspective view of the pillow when being used as a life belt.

The pillow 1 has a length equal to twice the length of an ordinary pillow, and the front and back of the casing of the pillow are sewed together transversely by a line of stitching-.2, thereby forming a hinge or pliable junction of the parts of the pillow on each side of the stitching. A reference to Fig. 3 will show that the stufiing of the pillow is excluded from the line 2 so that the pillow can be readily folded along the said line. The thickness of the pillow when. stuffed is equal to half the thickness of an ordinary pillow, so that when the pillow is folded as shown in vFi g. 3, its thickness cor responds to the thickness of an ordinary pillow.

A loop 3 and a tape a are attached to the edge ofthe pillow, and tapes 5 and 6 are at tached near to the respective ends ofthe pillow. Loops 7 and 8 are provided on the inner side of the pillow when folded as shown in Fig. 3.

In ordinary use the tapes 5 and 6 lie in the loops 7 and 8 as shown in Fig. 2, and the pillow is doubled or folded at its center part along the line of stitching 2, and while so doubled or folded is placed in any ordinary pillow slip.

When the pillow is required for saving life, the slip is removed the tapes 5 and 6 are withdrawn from the loops 7 and 8, and the tape l is passed around a persons neck and its end secured to the loop 3. The pillow is wrapped around the persons chest with the tapes 5 and 6 on the exterior, the said tapes are wrapped in opposite directions around the outside of the pillow and then through the loops 7 and 8 and the tapes are then tied together.

The pillow is filled with feathers, kapok or the like and made with a length suitable for a person with an average size chest. In the case of a thin person the ends of the pillow overlap and in the case of a stout person the ends do not meet, but in either case the pillow is securely held by the tapes 5 and 6, and is equally serviceable as a life saver.

What I do claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is 1. A life saving pillow comprising two sections foldably connected together at the middle of the pillow and suificiently long to encircle the body to the wearer circumferentially, each of said sections being of the same length as an ordinary pillow and of half the thickness of an ordinary pillow,

whereby when in folded position the sections will form a pillow of ordinary size, a tape extending across one section and secured thereto throughout its length with the exception of a part intermediate its ends, a tape loop carried by said tape and folded between the sections when the sections are used a as a pillow, another tape extending across the other section and secured thereto throughout its portion which extends'across the section' with the exception of its middle, said last named tape having an extending portion adapted to rest between the sections when the device is used as a pillow and to enga re the loop when the devlce is used as a life preserver, and tapes secured near the free ends of the sections for securing the device about a persons body when the pillow is used as a life preserver, said last named tapes being adapted to rest beneath the unsecured portions of the other tapes when the sections are folded to form a pillow and topass through the unsecured portions when the device is used as a life preserver for preventing vertical movement of the tapes.

2. A combined life preserver and pillow, comprising two sections foldably connected Copies of this patent may be obtained for together at the middle and sufficiently long to encircle the body of the wearer circumferentially, each of said sections being of the same length as an ordinary pillow and of half the thickness of an ordinary pillow, whereby the sections when in folded position will form a pillow of ordinary size, a tape 100p extending from one of the side edges of one section, a tape extending from the same edge of the other section and adapted to be secured to the loop when the device is used as a life preserver, a loop carried by each section, and tapes secured near the free ends of the sections for securing the device about the wearers body, the last named tapes being adapted to be passed through the last named loops when the sections are folded and the first named tape being adapted to be folded between the sections when the sections are folded.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G. 

